Quê hương From 'Homeland'

Quê hương

Quê hương là gì hở mẹ
Mà cô giáo dạy phải yêu
Quê hương là gì hở mẹ
Ai đi xa cũng nhớ nhiều
 
Quê hương là chùm khế ngọt
Cho con trèo hái mỗi ngày
Quê hương là đường đi học
Con về rợp bướm vàng bay
 
Quê hương là con diều biếc
Tuổi thơ con thả trên đồng
Quê hương là con đò nhỏ
Êm đềm khua nước ven sông
 
Quê hương là cầu tre nhỏ
Mẹ về nón lá nghiêng che
Là hương hoa đồng cỏ nội
Bay trong giấc ngủ đêm hè
 
Quê hương là vòng tay ấm
Con nằm ngủ giữa mưa đêm
Quê hương là đêm trăng tỏ
Hoa cau rụng trắng ngoài thềm
 
Quê hương là vàng hoa bí
Là hồng tím giậu mồng tơi
Là đỏ đôi bờ dâm bụt
Màu hoa sen trắng tinh khôi
 
Quê hương mỗi người chỉ một
Như là chỉ một mẹ thôi
Quê hương có ai không nhớ ...
 

From 'Homeland'

Homeland, what is that, ma?
What Teacher said to love.
Homeland, what is that, ma?
To leave it means to long for it.
 
Homeland is climbing trees
for the sweetest starfruit.
Homeland, walking to school
through the fluttering butterflies.
 
[...]
 

Homeland

Mum, what is a homeland?
That my teacher told me to love
Mum, what is a homeland?
Then whoever goes away and remember it dearly
 
Homeland is a bunch of sweet star fruits
That you can climb and pick every day
Homeland is your path to school
With many yellow butterflies flying around you
 
Homeland is a green kite in the sky
That you play in the fields throughout
your childhood
Homeland is a small boat
Brandishing float in riparian water peacefully
 
Homeland is a small bamboo bridge
That mum return home with her conical hat
Is the scent of flowers in the fields Flying on your summer night's sleep
 
Homeland is a warm embrace
Confort your sleep in the raining nights
Homeland is a moonlit night
Areca flowers fall white all over the courtyard
 
Homeland is yellow pumpkin flower
It's a light purple Malabar spinach hedge,
Is red hibiscus
Pure white lotus colour
 
Each of us has only a Homeland
Just like a mother
Who doesn't remember..their Homeland
 

Guest Translator Notes by Quynh Nguyen

This poem ‘Homeland’ was first published in 1986, written for a 1 year old baby Quynh Anh, the son of his friend, writer Nguyen Nhat Anh now. It was first published in 1986 in the children’s Red scarf newspaper. Then the musician Giap Van Thach published the song from this poem in 1986, which had a few paragraphs removed. The author was also surprised that this poem has a very special fate, it is known by many people, it is spread far and wide, it can be loved but at the same time it can cause confusion. The poet gave copyright to the musician Giap Van Thach afterward but the musician died a few years after the poem was published.

Facilitator Notes by April Yee

What a workshop! Attendees ranged from age 20 months to 70 years, and many brought firsthand knowledge of the Vietnamese language and its homeland—the focus of our poem. Saigon-born poet and actor Đỗ Trung Quân wrote ‘Quê hương’ for a friend’s baby in 1986. Those lines became the basis for a popular song heard in karaoke rooms in Vietnam and wherever its diaspora can be found.

In our translation, we chose to preserve the poem’s childlike, conversational tone. The emphasis of each line lies at its start, thanks to the repetition of ‘quê hương’ (‘homeland’ in our version, although we also debated ‘motherland’ and ‘hometown’, among others). Another vocabulary sticking point was ‘mẹ’, which has many regional and personal variations in English (‘Mum’, ‘Mommy’) just as it does in Vietnamese. We chose Ma, which echoes the southern Vietnamese ‘má’.

Traditional Vietnamese verse often follows lục bát: lines that alternate between six and eight syllables, a musical tonal pattern, and a rolling, interlocked rhyme scheme that is similar to terza rima. But Đỗ’s lines only use six syllables, as if lục bát’s final two syllables had vanished, like the boat people who were escaping the country. The rhyme scheme, too, is irregular, reflecting that period’s upheaval and the imperfection of memory.

Original Poem by

Do Trung Quan with The Poetry Translation Workshop Language

Vietnamese

Country

Vietnam